Controlling pest populations is essential to human health, modern agriculture, food storage, and hygiene. There are more than ten thousand species of pests that cause losses in agriculture and the worldwide agricultural losses amount to billions of U.S. dollars each year. Accordingly, there exists a continuous need for new pesticides and for methods of producing and using such pesticides.
The Insecticide Resistance Action Committee (IRAC) has classified insecticides into categories based on the best available evidence of the mode of action of such insecticides. Insecticides in the IRAC Mode of Action Group 23 are inhibitors of acetyl CoA carboxylase. The insecticides in this class are believed to inhibit acetyl coenzyme A carboxylase, part of the first step in lipid synthesis, resulting death of the affected insects. Examples of insecticides in this class are tetronic acid derivatives (i.e., 4-hydroxy-[5H]furan-2-one derivatives) such as spirodiclofen and spiromesifen, and tetramic acid derivatives (i.e., pyrrolidine-2,4-dione derivatives) such as spirotetramat.
Spirotetramat (cis-3-(2,5-dimethylphenyl)-8-methoxy-2-oxo-1-azaspiro[4.5]dec-3-en-4-yl ethylcarbonate) is a tetramic acid derivative. Spirodiclofen (3-(2,4-dichlorophenyl)-2-oxo-1-oxaspiro[4.5]dec-3-en-4-yl 2,2-dimethylbutanoate) and spiromesifen (2-oxo-3-(2,4,6-trimethylphenyl)-1-oxaspiro[4,4]non-3-en-4-yl 3,3-dimethylbutanoate) are tetronic acid derivatives.
Although the rotational application of pesticides having different modes of action may be adopted for good pest management practice, this approach does not necessarily give satisfactory pest control. Furthermore, even though combinations of pesticides have been studied, a high synergistic action has not always been found.